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GOAL FOR THE '80S: FUEL EFFICIENCY

A decade ago it cost more to maintain a diesel-electric locomotive than to fuel it. This situation has now reversed and great emphasis is placed on fuel efficiency. While power ratings of locomotives have leveled off, there is now great emphasis on reliability, adhesive characteristics, component refinement, changes in idling and multiple-unit operation and on other facets of design and use. Changes projected by builders are evolutionary; the fuel cost spiral is causing some reexamination of electrification. A table gives characteristics of current North American diesel freight locomotives and a separate article, The Great Adhesion Race, describes the role of wheel slip and wheel creep in tractive force and the methods used in North America to control adhesion on contemporary locomotives.